The Man Without a Country Page 3

West of those days, in themidst of "Spanish plot," "Orleans plot," and all the rest. He had beeneducated on a plantation where the finest company was a Spanish officeror a French merchant from Orleans. His education, such as it was, hadbeen perfected in commercial expeditions to Vera Cruz, and I think hetold me his father once hired an Englishman to be a private tutor for awinter on the plantation. He had spent half his youth with an olderbrother, hunting horses in Texas; and, in a word, to him "United States"was scarcely a reality. Yet he had been fed by "United States" for allthe years since he had been in the army. He had sworn on his faith as aChristian to be true to "United States." It was "United States" whichgave him the uniform he wore, and the sword by his side. Nay, my poorNolan, it was only because "United States" had picked you out first asone of her own confidential men of honor that "A. Burr" cared for you astraw more than for the flat boat men who sailed his ark for him. I donot excuse Nolan; I only explain to the reader why he damned hiscountry, and wished he might never hear her name again.

  He never did hear her name but once again. From that moment, Sept. 23,1807, till the day he died, May 11, 1863, he never heard her name again.For that half-century and more he was a man without a country.

  Old Morgan, as I said, was terribly shocked. If Nolan had comparedGeorge Washington to Benedict Arnold, or had cried, "God save KingGeorge," Morgan would not have felt worse. He called the court into hisprivate room, and returned in fifteen minutes, with a face like a sheet,to say,--

  "Prisoner, hear the sentence of the Court! The Court decides, subject tothe approval of the President, that you never hear the name of theUnited States again."

  Nolan laughed. But nobody else laughed. Old Morgan was too solemn, andthe whole room was hushed dead as night for a minute. Even Nolan losthis swagger in a moment. Then Morgan added,--

  "Mr. Marshal, take the prisoner to Orleans in an armed boat, and deliverhim to the naval commander there."

  The marshal gave his orders and the prisoner was taken out of court.

  "Mr. Marshal," continued old Morgan, "see that no one mentions theUnited States to the prisoner. Mr. Marshal, make my respects toLieutenant Mitchell at Orleans, and request him to order that no oneshall mention the United States to the prisoner while he is on boardship. You will receive your written orders from the officer on duty herethis evening. The Court is adjourned without day."

  I have always supposed that Colonel Morgan himself took the proceedingsof the court to Washington city, and explained them to Mr. Jefferson.Certain it is that the President approved them,--certain, that is, if Imay believe the men who say they have seen his signature. Before the"Nautilus" got round from New Orleans to the Northern Atlantic coastwith the prisoner on board, the sentence had been approved, and he was aman without a country.

  The plan then adopted was substantially the same which was necessarilyfollowed ever after. Perhaps it was suggested by the necessity ofsending him by water from Fort Adams and Orleans. The Secretary of theNavy--it must have been the first Crowninshield, though he is a man I donot remember--was requested to put Nolan on board a government vesselbound on a long cruise, and to direct that he should be only so farconfined there as to make it certain that he never saw or heard of thecountry. We had few long cruises then, and the navy was very much out offavor; and as almost all of this story is traditional, as I haveexplained, I do not know certainly what his first cruise was. But thecommander to whom he was intrusted,--perhaps it was Tingey or Shaw,though I think it was one of the younger men,--we are all old enoughnow,---regulated the etiquette and the precautions of the affair, andaccording to his scheme they were carried out, I suppose, till Nolandied.

  When I was second officer of the "Intrepid," some thirty years after, Isaw the original paper of instructions. I have been sorry ever sincethat I did not copy the whole of it. It ran, however, much in this way:--

  "WASHINGTON (with a date, which must have been late in 1807).

  "Sir,--You will receive from Lieutenant Neale the person of PhilipNolan, late a lieutenant in the United States army.

  "This person on his trial by court-martial expressed, with an oath, thewish that he might 'never hear of the United States again.'

  "The Court sentenced him to have his wish fulfilled.

  "For the present, the execution of the order is intrusted by thePresident to this Department.

  "You will take the prisoner on board your ship, and keep him there withsuch precautions as shall prevent his escape.

  "You will provide him with such quarters, rations, and clothing as wouldbe proper for an officer of his late rank, if he were a passenger onyour vessel on the business of his Government.

  "The gentlemen on board will make any arrangements agreeable tothemselves regarding his society. He is to be exposed to no indignity ofany kind, nor is he ever unnecessarily to be reminded that he is aprisoner.

  "But under no circumstances is he ever to hear of his country or to seeany information regarding it; and you will especially caution all theofficers under your command to take care, that, in the variousindulgences which may be granted, this rule, in which his punishment isinvolved, shall not be broken.

  "It is the intention of the Government that he shall never again see thecountry which he has disowned. Before the end of your cruise you willreceive orders which will give effect to this intention.

  "Respectfully yours,"W. SOUTHARD, for the"Secretary of the Navy"

  If I had only preserved the whole of this paper, there would be no breakin the beginning of my sketch of this story. For Captain Shaw, if itwere he, handed it to his successor in the charge, and he to his, and Isuppose the commander of the "Levant" has it to-day as his authority forkeeping this man in this mild custody.

  The rule adopted on board the ships on which I have met "the man withouta country" was, I think, transmitted from the beginning. No mess likedto have him permanently, because his presence cut off all talk of homeor of the prospect of return, of politics or letters, of peace or ofwar,--cut off more than half the talk men liked to have at sea. But itwas always thought too hard that he should never meet the rest of us,except to touch hats, and we finally sank into one system. He was notpermitted to talk with the men, unless an officer was by. With officershe had unrestrained intercourse, as far as they and he chose. But hegrew shy, though he had favorites: I was one. Then the captain alwaysasked him to dinner on Monday. Every mess in succession took up theinvitation in its turn. According to the size of the ship, you had himat your mess more or less often at dinner. His breakfast he ate in hisown state-room,--he always had a state-room--which was where a sentinelor somebody on the watch could see the door. And whatever else he ate ordrank, he ate or drank alone. Sometimes, when the marines or sailors hadany special jollification, they were permitted to invite"Plain-Buttons," as they called him. Then Nolan was sent with someofficer, and the men were forbidden to speak of home while he was there.I believe the theory was that the sight of his punishment did them good.They called him "Plain-Buttons," because, while he always chose to weara regulation army-uniform, he was not permitted to wear the army-button,for the reason that it bore either the initials or the insignia of thecountry he had disowned.

  I remember, soon after I joined the navy, I was on shore with some ofthe older officers from our ship and from the "Brandywine," which we hadmet at Alexandria. We had leave to make a party and go up to Cairo andthe Pyramids. As we jogged along (you went on donkeys then), some of thegentlemen (we boys called them "Dons," but the phrase was long sincechanged) fell to talking about Nolan, and some one told the system whichwas adopted from the first about his books and other reading. As he wasalmost never permitted to go on shore, even though the vessel lay inport for months, his time at the best hung heavy; and everybody waspermitted to lend him books, if they were not published in America andmade no allusion to it. These were common enough in the old days, whenpeople in the other hemisphere talked of the United States as little aswe do of Paraguay. He had almost all the foreign papers that came intothe s
hip, sooner or later; only somebody must go over them first, andcut out any advertisement or stray paragraph that alluded to America.This was a little cruel sometimes, when the back of what was cut outmight be as innocent as Hesiod. Right in the midst of one of Napoleon'sbattles, or one of Canning's speeches, poor Nolan would find a greathole, because on the back of the page of that paper there had been anadvertisement of a packet for New York, or a scrap from the President'smessage. I say this was the first time I ever heard of this plan, whichafterwards I had enough and more than enough to do with. I remember it,because poor Phillips, who was of the party, as soon as the allusion toreading was made, told a story of something which happened at the Capeof Good Hope on Nolan's first voyage; and it is the only thing I